A home network system is a technology for controlling various devices (hereinafter, referred to as ‘peripheral devices’) such as a TV, an audio player, a video player, a computer, a refrigerator, and a washing machine, which are installed in a house, through wired/wireless communication and allowing the peripheral device to sharing contents with each other.
If a home network system is provided, Internet connection, connection to Internet, transmission of moving images, and transmission/reception of emails are possible through peripheral devices inside or outside of a house, thereby building a cyber home. In addition, a user can control various in-house devices by being connected to the home network system through a communication network even at a remote distance.
For example, Patent Document 1 (Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2006-0125237) discloses a home network system for providing a communication function between a portable phone of a resident of a remote place and a video phone installed at a common entrance of an apartment house such as an apartment or villa through the video phone and a communication method thereof. The home network system includes: a common entrance video phone installed at a common entrance of an apartment house such as an apartment or villa, the common entrance video phone being connected to a home network server to perform a function of allowing a visitor to make a voice call with a resident and a function of allowing the visitor to make a phone call with the resident of a remote place; the home network server for performing overall functions of the video phone according to a predetermined control program, performing a phone call by controlling connection with a specific receiving party's video phone, a regular phone, or a portable phone through a virtual office supporting an Internet phone service according to a resident's manipulation of a key input unit, performing remote control through power lines of various peripheral devices according to a request of the resident of the remote place, and providing an additional agent function of enabling the resident to perform an update, management, maintenance and repair, and desired selection of a control program for the peripheral devices; the virtual office connected to the home network server, the virtual office controlling connection with PSTN, the virtual office providing each of the peripheral devices and the video phone with an Internet phone number for an Internet phone, the virtual office providing the Internet phone service and a function of connection with the specific receiving party's video phone, the regular phone, or the portable phone; and the portable phone for performing a phone call with the visitor through the video phone and allowing the resident of the remote place to control the peripheral devices.
In addition, Patent Document 2 (Korean Patent No. 10-0561633) discloses an intelligent system for identifying and communicating to a visitor using a wireless communication terminal and a method thereof. The intelligent system includes: a doorphone interface and application processor connected to a video doorphone device, to process a bell signal event and setting/releasing of a session connection, and process voice/video data; a terminal recognizer for identifying whether a resident is absent (or present) by detecting a location of a resident's wireless communication terminal when a bell is activated by a visitor; a location information manager for identifying visitors and storing and managing contact addresses of communication terminals; and a visitor identifying and communicating proxy for requesting a session connection to a contact address of a communication terminal through which the identification and communication of a visitor are possible when the bell is activated by the visitor, providing visitor's voices (and images) and resident's voices between the video doorphone device and the communication terminal through a session channel set and connected when it is identified that the resident is present, and releasing the session according to a request of the communication terminal.
However, Patent Document 1 that attempts to communicate with a portable phone based on the virtual office is different from the present invention that directly connects a video phone and a smart device to each other without any virtual office. Also, Patent Document 2 that performs communication through a home gateway and performs communication through a streaming relay of an SIP server existing in an integrated network within an apartment complex and a common network (terminal IPS) is different from the present invention that requires no home gateway and SIP server.
Meanwhile, in a recent home network system, all functions are performed based on a wall-pad mounted on a wall of a living room, so that all peripheral devices communicate with the wall-pad in a wired/wireless manner.
Accordingly, there is a limitation in that the above-described video call with visitors through a smart device is made in only large-scale apartments, etc., in which high-performance wall pads, SIP servers, and the like are implemented.